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A comment on Pigs are smart and sensitive, yet we continue to justify killing them for food. Parent comment

Re:Pigs are smart and sensitive, yet we continue to justify ... by mnm1 on Saturday July 29, 2017 @08:44PM (#14883800)
Comparing cats torturing other animals to systematic genocide, using nuclear weapons on others, starving whole populations, and other atrocities committed by humans is what lacks perspective. Another big difference is that we are capable of knowing what is right and wrong and choose to still hurt and torture others en masse. We are now close to choosing to likely cause a worldwide extinction event, but somehow a cat torturing a mouse is comparable? No other creature even comes close.
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Re:Pigs are smart and sensitive, yet we continue to justify ... by true_religion on Saturday July 29, 2017 @09:29PM (#14883922)
> Comparing cats torturing other animals to systematic genocide, using nuclear weapons on others, starving whole populations, and other atrocities committed by humans is what lacks perspective.

Are any of these things the 'natural' state of humanity? It looks like you only get to that after at least a few thousand years of cultural development as a whole, and two decades plus socialization to adulthood in a person.

I feel like cats certainly would commit genocide if they had the mental capacity to plan for it.

Overall, I think that it is a wrong view that morality exists as an abstract separate from the current social circumstance and any species (even humans) can be measured against that perfect ideal.

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Re:Pigs are smart and sensitive, yet we continue to justify ... by mnm1 on Sunday July 30, 2017 @02:33AM (#14884697)
There's plenty of armies that recruit young children around 8, 9 years old as they have been for thousands of years. You don't need nuclear bombs to commit genocide or kill whole populations. Blades and spears will do just fine. So, yeah, I do think this is the natural state of humanity. Even a little kid who is not even an adult human is easily coaxed into a monster and has been so for thousands of years.
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Re:Pigs are smart and sensitive, yet we continue to justify ... by dpark on Saturday July 29, 2017 @10:26PM (#14884078)
You're complaining that I compared cats to humans, while at the same time you're drawing a connection between genocide and eating pork.

I stand by my initial statement that this is utterly lacking in perspective.

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Re:Pigs are smart and sensitive, yet we continue to justify ... by mnm1 on Sunday July 30, 2017 @02:30AM (#14884685)
No, I'm comparing the torture of a few creatures to the torture and deaths of millions. I'm not drawing a connection between genocide and eating pork. I'm saying genocide is a lot worse than torturing a few creatures. You completely misunderstood.
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